Monday Madness

What is Monday Madness?

Monday Madness was created by us: mommy bloggers Micael and Meghan. Mommy, daddy, single, stay at home parent, working parent, blogger, non-blogger, pie lover, pie hater (who hates pie, seriously?).... it doesn't matter who you are or what you do, Monday's tend to be crazy, right? So we thought we would bring a little fun into your Monday routine. And at the same time you'll get to check out new blogs, network with others, make new friends and connections - multitasking at itsbest!

So what do I do to participate?

It's really easy to participate with us! Just follow the steps below and you'll be set!
1.Follow the hostess blogs at Saving Obsession and The Tuckers Take Tennessee for some Madness Lovin'.
2.Grab the McLinky code and make a post on your blog about Monday Madness, so more people can join in the fun! Also grab the Monday Madness button on the right.
3.Add your blog name and link to the McLinky below.
4.Check out some of the blogs on the list and follow ones you like. Leave a comment to let them know you're from Monday Madness.
5.If someone follows your blog, follow them back to keep the Madness going.

That's it! Visit and follow as few or as many blogs as you'd like!

This is my first attempt at joining, so I hope I've done this right.

Blogmania Winner is.......

The winner is......


skgaff


The prize will be a $10 Barnes & Noble gift card and one of the following books:
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Or
Bed of Roses (Bride Quartet #2) by Nora Roberts

The winner has been notified

WELCOME To BLOGMANIA ! My Blog #114 or 123

You’ve arrived at exactly the right time to explore lots of new blogs, all of which, ARE GIVING AWAY A VERY SPECIAL BLOGMANIA GIVEAWAY (For One Day Only – April 30th) .

We’ve done all the work for you. No hunting or surfing. Each blog will have a number and each new blog link will have a number. These numbers will allow you to keep track of which blogs you’ve visited and how many are left to visit. Why not take a moment to make a list of blog numbers 1-123 and check off the blogs as you go.
I know you’ll want to visit as many blogs today as you can. So, if you see something that interests you on any of our participating blogs, why not bookmark that site. Later, when you have more time, you can discover all its fabulous treasures.

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!MY GIVEAWAY and RULES:
1. Enter your email and state or country
2. Become a follower
2. Winner will be chosen by randomizer

The prize will be a $10 Barnes & Noble gift card and one of the following books:
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Or
Bed of Roses (Bride Quartet #2) by Nora Roberts


Here are some more blogs to check out:


(Blog- 1 – HOST OF BLOGMANIA) Between The Pages
(Blog -2 – CO-HOST OF BLOGMANIA) The Black Sheep Dances
(Blog-43 - CO-HOST OF BLOGMANIA) Books, Books Everywhere
(Blog-22) Opinions of a Moody Mama
(Blog-7) Skhye's Ramblings
(Blog-39) Paranormal Bites
(Blog-64) Riley Quinn
(Blog-91) Cate Masters
(Blog-110) Book Crazy
(Blog-121) Brain Foggles

Blogmania Event Coming - April 30

Coming - April 30, 2010

WOW! Aren’t you the lucky one! You’ve arrived at exactly the right time to explore lots of new blogs, all of which, ARE GIVING AWAY A VERY SPECIAL BLOGMANIA GIVEAWAY (For One Day Only) .

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You literally have the chance to win hundreds of prizes. We’ve done all the work for you. No hunting or surfing for just the right blogs. Every blog you visit will have more links for you to follow, all of them with a special BLOGMANIA giveaway and just waiting for you to drop by.






Each blog will have a number similar to this (25 of 106) and each new blog link will have a number. These numbers will allow you to keep track of which blogs you’ve visited and how many are left to visit. Now really, isn’t this the easiest thing ever! AND SO MUCH FUN…



I know you’ll want to visit as many blogs today as you can. So, if you see something that interests you on any of our participating blogs, why not bookmark that site or become a blog follower. Later, when you have more time, you can discover all its fabulous treasures.



Remember! The special Blogmania prizes are only available for one day, April 30th. The number of prizes you could win is only limited by the NUMBER of blogs you visit.



Get Ready—Set —Go !

Read, Remember, Recommend Fiction Challenge

Read, Remember, Recommend Fiction Challenge

April 1, 2010 - April 1, 2011


Bibliobabe is hosting the Read, Remember, Recommend Fiction Challenge in honor of the April 1st release of her book.

Details:

Check out all the amazing books mentioned in Read, Remember, Recommend and plan your attack. Books do not need to be decided upon in advance. All books must be mentioned in the journal lists.
Write a challenge sign-up post on your blog. In that post provide a link to the Read, Remember, Recommend Fiction Reading Challenge post. If you do not have a blog, introduce yourself in a comment on that post.

Each time you read and review a book as part of this challenge, share this with other challenge participants by adding a direct link to your book review to the list in a comment at this post. If you do not have a blog, leave your review as a comment.
Rules:

Read as many books from the Read, Remember, Recommend reading journal as you can in one year.

Books read before April 1st, 2010 do not count.
Overlaps with other challenges are acceptable – and encouraged!
Rereading doesn’t count – have fun exploring new authors, awards and books!
Audio, print, and e-books are all acceptable.
You can change your commitment level at anytime.

Levels:

Notable Newbie – 5 books
Armchair Librarian – 10 books
The Library of Congress Calls Me Daddy – 20 books
A Book Intervention is Needed – 30 books

There are also some AWESOME prizes. To sign up and see the list of prizes, visit the post about the challenge.

Read, Remember, Recommend Teen Reading Challenge

Read, Remember, Recommend Teen Reading Challenge

April 1, 2010 - April 1, 2011



Bibliobabe is hosting the Read, Remember, Recommend Teen Reading Challenge to celebrate the April 1st release of her new book.

Details:

Check out all the amazing books mentioned in Read, Remember, Recommend for Teens and plan your attack. Books do not need to be decided upon in advance. All books must be mentioned in the journal lists.
Write a challenge sign-up post on your blog. In that post provide a link to the Read, Remember, Recommend Teen Reading Challenge post. If you do not have a blog, introduce yourself in a comment on that post.
Each time you read and review a book as part of this challenge, share this with other challenge participants by adding a direct link to your book review to the list in a comment at this post. If you do not have a blog, leave your review as a comment.
Rules:

Read as many books from the Read, Remember, Recommend for Teens reading journal as you can in one year.
Books read before April 1st, 2010 do not count.
Overlaps with other challenges are acceptable – and encouraged!
Rereading doesn’t count – have fun exploring new authors, awards and books!
Audio, print, and e-books are all acceptable.
You can change your commitment level at anytime.
Levels:

NE2N – Not Even to Newbery – 5 books
CYA – Covering Your Assignments – 10 books
LOL – Literature Over Love – 20 books
BFF – Book Fiend Forever – 30 books

There are also some AWESOME prizes. To sign up and see the list of prizes, visit the post about the challenge.

Book Review: Freestyle with Avery by Annie Bryant

Title: Freestyle with Avery (Beacon Street Girls)
Author: Annie Bryant
Genre: Young Adult
Challenges: 101 Books in 1001 Days Challenge, Book Around the States Challenge, Monthly Mixer Mele (A), Read and Review Challenge 2010, 2010 Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge, 100 + Reading Challenge, Young Adult Reading Challenge, Audio Book Challenge 2010, Pages Read 2010,

Rating: 4/5
No. of Pages: Audio (240)
Published: 2009


Back Cover:
Hey, sports fans!

Avery here, comin’ at you live form Colorado, home of my dad – and the first ever Telluride Snurfer Snowboarding Competition! With mascot dog Marty at my side, I’m totally psyched to compete. But this trip is getting CRAAZY. At in Crazie Kazie, the all-star boarder who wants to wind as much as I do. The only thing crazier is her cat, Farkle….aka Franken-Cat!

I just might score some coaching tips from a certain celeb. And shout-out to my new friend, Jason – he loves animals, like me. You won’t believe the creature he’s keeping in his shed…it’s almost ready to be released into the wild.

Shred on , Avery

Mine: What a wonderful series for young girls. My only question is how can the parents be so clueless as to your daughters feelings (it’s usually the dad that doesn’t get it). Avery’s dad is now got a girlfriend and with that comes her daughter Kazie that is the enemy. Kazie seems to have taken Avery’s job at the ski shop and is her competition in the Snurfer Snowboarding Competition
Avery also makes friends with Jason the new kid in town that everyone else wants to know about also. Jason is a quiet kid with lots of with lots to hide the most interesting thing is the hawk he is caring for.

Book Review: Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber

Title: Twenty Wishes (Blossom Street)
Author: Debbie Macomber
Genre: Romance
Challenges: To Be Continued…Challenge, 101 Books in 1001 Days Challenge, Monthly Mixer Mele (M), Read and Review Challenge 2010, 2010 Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge, 100 + Reading Challenge, Romance Reading Challenge 2010, Audio Book Challenge 2010, Romance Challenge 2010, Pages Read 2010, Contemporary Romance Challenge in 2010,


Rating: 5/5
No. of Pages: Audio
Published: 2008


Back Cover: What do you want most in the world? Anne Marie Roche wants to find happiness again. At Thirty-eight, her life’s not what she’d expected – she’s childless, a recent widow, alone. She owns a successful bookstore on Seattle’s Blossom Street, but despite her accomplishments, there’s a feeling of emptiness.

On Valentine’s Day, Anne Marie and several other widows get together to celebrate…what? Hope, possibility, the future. They each begin a list of twenty wishes, things they always wanted to do but never did.

Anne Marie’s list starts with: Find one good thing about life. It includes learning to knit, doing good for someone else, falling in love again. She begins to act on her wishes, and when she volunteers at a local school, and eight-year-old girl named Ellen enters her life. It’s a relationship that becomes far more involving that Anne Marie intended. It also becomes far more important than she ever imagined.

As Ellen helps Anne Marie complete her list of twenty wishes, they both learn that wishes can come true -- but not necessarily in the way you expect.


Mine: What a wonderful idea to have twenty wishes to try to complete. Everyone should have twenty wishes. It seems so funny that on Valentine’s day all the widows decide to make a 20 wishes list and most all of them have a wish of love. They are all different kinds of love, but love just the same.
Anne Marie doing something good for someone else leads to falling in love again – it’s just with Ellen her lunch buddy at the school that she volunteers at. For the others it’s the service manager where she bought her car, the man in the wheelchair at the local movie theater. It all leads to love again to be had by the next Valentine’s Day

Still trying to contact my OWOH winner

The Winner is......
Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:76
csitronkat


Please contact me - you email came back as not valid.

Trying to get back to Normal

My reading was off for February - since my dad was sick and then ultimately passed.

I read 2 books. (not very good).

Will be starting with reading with a vengence to try to catchup some this month. Plan on reading and review several children's books (they seem to go fast).

I'm reading the lastest of the Nora Roberts Flower Quartet - it's going quickly.

Hope that I'll be able to post more now that things have calmed down

Mailbox Monday #14

Here are the books I've gotten over the past week




About the book:
How to Lose a Client by Becky Bartness Esq.
ISBN: 978-1-4401-7748-490000
Publisher: IUniverse, Inc.
Date of publish: November 24, 2009
Pages: 276




About the book:
Mead's Trek by Tom Gauthier
ISBN: 978-1-4327-4843-2
Publisher: Outskirts Press
Date of publish: December 17, 2009
Pages: 320

About the book:
Stressed in Scottsdale by Marcia Fine
ISBN: 978-0615315133
Publisher: L'Image Press, LLC
Date of publish: Jan 1, 2010
Pages: 342

The Winner Is.....OWOH2010

The Winner is......

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:76

csitronkat

Update - Sad News

I'm sorry I haven't been around lately - my dad went into the hospital last Thursday and then came home on Tuesday this week with Hospice. He died in the early hours on Friday.

He was ready and just wanted to get home to be with family.

Believe I 'll off for a little bit longer - will make sure that prize is awarded for the Magic Carpet Ride Contest.

One World One Heart 2010 Giveaway

I've decided to take part in the One World One Heart Contest for this year.

So another year has gone and here we are with another One World One Heart event. Organised by the lovely Lisa.

It all kicks off today and my giveaway will end on 15th February at 1pm GMT.

So what is OWOH - Well Lisa started this huge event in 2007 - A meeting of minds, talent and fellow bloggers.

Friendships are forged and new blogs discovered. All you have to do is create a giveaway, it can be anything you like, whatever inspires you, whatever is your passion. The event is open to everyone all over the world.

The rules and details can be found HERE.

I will be giving away the book The Christmas Pearl by Dorothy Benton Frank.

Theodora is the matriarch of a family that has grown into a bunch of truculent knuckleheads. While she's finally gotten them all together in South Carolina to celebrate, this Christmas looks nothing like the extravagant, homey holidays of her childhood.

What happened to the days when Christmas meant tables groaning with home-cooked goodies, over-the-top decorations, and long chats in front of the fire with Pearl, her grandmother's beloved housekeeper and closest confidante?

Luckily for Theodora, a special someone who heard her plea for help arrives, with pockets full of enough Gullah magic and common sense to make Theodora's Christmas the love-filled miracle it's meant to be.

Book Review: Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L Swanson

Title: Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer
Author: James L. Swanson (Read by Richard Thomas)
Genre: Fiction
Challenges: 101 Books in 1001 Days Challenge, Book Around the States Challenge, US Presidents Reading Project, Monthly Mixer Mele, Read and Review Challenge 2010, 2010 Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge, 100 + Reading Challenge, Audio Book Challenge 2010, Pages Read 2010, American Civil War Challenge,
Rating: 4/5
No. of Pages: 367
Published: 2006


Back Cover: The murder of Abraham Lincoln set off the greatest manhunt in American history – the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth. From April 14 to April 26, 1865, the assassin let Union cavalry troops on a wild, twelve-day chase from the streets of Washington DC, across the swaps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia.

At the very center of this story is John Wilkes Booth, America’s notorious villain. A confederate sympathizer and member of a celebrated acting family, Booth threw away his fame, wealth, and promise for a chance to avenge the South’s defeat. For almost two weeks, he confounded the man hunters, slipping away from their every move and denying the justice they sought.

Manhunt is a fully documented work, but it is also a fascinating tale of murder, intrigue, and betrayal. A gripping hour-by-hour account told through the eyes of the hunted and the hunters, this is history as you’ve never read it before.


Mine: What an intriguing book, I’ve always been interested in anything Lincoln, but was a wonderful way to learn more about the background of JW Booth. Too learn he was a southern sympathizer and had plotted to try to kidnap Lincoln before he finally killed him. That he led them on such a long chase and the troops were so close several times. Fate helped Booth in that he actually went the wrong way up the river in the beginning and was able to hide out longer.

The key player of the day - Seward ran the military and set the wheels in motion to have Booth captured. The Vice President was reluctant to take on the role of President and did let Seward go after Booth. There was a great plan to kill several other key officials, but the conspirators couldn’t go through with they assignments.